donali

ROFLMAO!! Poor thing - but really, what ARE the chances?!?! Hope you're feeling better now!

Loved him in Hotel...

I know, I know - I'm way late, and I don't live in NM. BUT!! What about Sean Connery???

John, You are such an inspiration to me. I am SO glad you stuck around and shared your journey with us!! I love your posts, and am SO PROUD OF YOU!!! Here are your pics!! xxoo

Okay, here are a few things I've done. I haven't had the time to play around with art since about 1985, but I've always enjoyed it, even though I will never be a great artist. Top left - a painting I did with my grandfather. We did the same scene side by side, and this is how mine turned out. He was a commercial artist, and mountain scenes like this were a trademark of his. We used left over house paint to do these paintings. Top middle: Watercolor of a wagon wheel. Watercolors are my preferred medium. Top right: Mixed media - acrylic, barbed wire, and flour/salt clay (for the bird legs). Got the idea from a gift shop at a KOA campground. Everything under the "Melismas" logo are notecards I've made - all with a musical theme.

OW OW OW, OMG, I think I just HURT myself laughing!!! ROTFLMAO!! :dead 1. Any useful organs are to be donated right away. 2. The rest of my body is to be donated to science. Let them be amazed. lol And no, we don't want anything back. When they're done with me it's up to them to get rid of the remains, if any. 3. Ouija board party. I promise, if able, I will come and spell out amazing and insightful messages. If nothing happens, make up your own amazing, insightful messages. Have a lot to drink. :bandit 4. Anyone just dying to spend money please donate to a no-kill animal shelter in my name. 5. Keep doing the Ouija board thing, at least once a month. I'm sure I'll show up eventually!! 6. Hopefully I'll leave some loved ones behind, and that they'll miss me a little, but smile a lot and laugh at all the goofy remembrances I'll leave behind. 7. Torch my place - please, I don't want anyone to have to go through all that garbage! 8. See you on the other side!! <3 <3 <3

So, what CAN we say that would make you feel better???

I love all this stuff - you guys are SO talented!! Besides building the porch (which STILL isn't finished, by the way! ), I have been known to occasionaly dabble in artsy-fartsy things. Pics to come later. Nothing like what you all do, but I really used to enjoy it.

Bwahaha haha!!! ROFLMAO!! If that's taken, how about "Thin as Sin"? :)

Okay, I have to do this to participate in the Slow Losers Unite! thread. These are TRUE NSVs (NON-scale Victories), since IF I were using a scale it would be going up. Ready for some true creativity?? Here goes: I am on a journey towards health - physical and mental. Although I DO hope a by-product of that journey is a smaller physical me, my challenge to myself is to accept where I am, embrace where I am going, and to be kind to myself along the way. I want my life/thoughts to stop revolving around my WEIGHT, and to continue to LIVE as I was learning to do while I was banded. I am also learning to take care of myself and my needs. My challenge to myself is that all of my NSVs will be written without "qualification" - i.e. "I looked great!" as opposed to my natural impulse - "I looked great! (for a huge person - )" 1. My scale was retired to live under my sink as of about September 2004. I never weigh myself. (HUGE victory!) 2. I bought five outfits last week because everything I own is now too small. I was suffering and uncomfortable, and feeling unhappy about growing bigger. Finally I realized that I was in some small way punishing myself by refusing to buy clothes that fit NOW. I would never do that to someone I loved - so, new clothes - that fit! 3. I wore a new outfit each day this week, and did my hair and makeup. I felt and looked great. 4. I will be attending group hypnotherapy 2 hours a week for 4 Wednesdays starting next week. 5. I made my appointment with the surgeon to fix my right foot, and am now just waiting to get my surgery date (congenital birth defect, similar to a club foot but not exactly the same.) 6. I am recommiting myself to drinking my 4 quarts of Water each day. I am almost 100% on getting in 2 of them - I just need to add in two more. 7. I recolored my hair red last week. 8. I wear perfume each day. 9. My negative self-talk has not re-established itself - I continue to feel positive about myself and where my life is going. (Yay me! ) :banana :banana :banana

Casper and I are here!! 0 ccs in my ghost band... Anyone know where I can get a fill for a ghost band?!?! lol

:bow: :bow: No, I don't drink at all (alcohol, that is), but I LOVE gadgets, etc. Anything that comes in a set of 4-6 had to be for some sort of food/drink related thing. If they weren't drink markers I was going with some sort of origami napkin ring type thing... lol Bring on the puzzles!! P.S. PnP - I got to your puzzle thread late - don't stop!! I can't decipher the Eminem license plate (stuck on LR), but I'm ready for the next one!!

Try this: http://www.joygraffix.com/me/sarahdress.gif

Could someone PM/email me the email address for Dr. Martinez from Obesity Control Center? Greatly appreciated!

Hi Chris! Yes, I'm still around, and flying solo is, well... the same as not being banded, I'm sorry to say... But, I continue to have hope that everything I know will eventually save me from myself! I don't believe my erosion had anything to do with the quantity of foods I could eat, because I maintained good restriction - I never felt a loss of restriction "all the time" - just the normal tight in the mornings, loosening up at night. I never had much success with evening out my restriction, although I did try the advice above. I was always pretty tight in the mornings, but not so tight that I couldn't eat yoghurt for Breakfast.

That's called "negative reinforcement"...

Nykee, I am trying to hear what you are saying. 1. You are NOT hungry - hunger is not the problem for you. You have NOT been hungry since surgery. 2. Your sole purpose in getting the band was so that you would not be able to eat - ANYTHING, period. Because if you can eat, you will - hunger or not. 3. Whether you can eat or not, there is absolutely no hope whatsoever that you will make healthier, more nutritious choices. IF you can eat, you will eat more cheetos, more Cookies, more chicken nuggets, more milk, more juice, more Soup. If you CAN'T eat, you will subsist on less milk, less juice, less soup, less cheetos, and less cookies. 4. You have already had so much therapy regarding your head issues with food that you "have a degree" in it. 5. Prior to banding, you lost 48 pounds. 6. You want more consistent/stable restriction so that you can have liquids/cheetos/cookies throughout the day, not just at night. Just out of curisosity, how did you lose the 48 pounds? Do you really have absolutely no intention of migrating yourself to a more healthful way of eating? Do you really intend on subsisting on milk, juice, cheetos, soup, cookies and chicken nuggets for the rest of your life? I believe once upon a time you said you were a nurse - am I remembering that correctly? Are you supplementing your daily intake with a good Multivitamin like Alex hopes? I do understand about eating when you are not hungry. I do understand about eating as much as possible, as often as possible, stopping only because I am out of food or because there is literally not room for even one more bite. I do understand getting the band to help stop mindless eating, eating that is not hunger induced. What I don't understand is your inability/unwillingness to include more healthful/nutritious choices in your menu. I'm not talking about cutting out any of your current choices altogether - I'm talking about choosing to eat lean Proteins and veggies first, and then (if it's physically possible), indulging in the less nutritious stuff. Perhaps in your mind any thought of consuming healthy stuff automatically slams the door on your preferred, non-health promoting choices. You are right - if you REFUSE to add any kind of healthful choices to your menu's line up, you WILL only consume more liquid calories and less healthful foods if you have less restriction. Because that's the only type of foods you have available. I honestly don't know what to tell you - everything I know about banding success hinges on people being able to modify their habits at least somewhat. This is something you wouldn't have to do all at once - make the changes one at a time, in a gradual way. If you are able to be successful going about this "your" way then I am happy for you. But it doesn't seem to be working for you too much at the moment. If you had nothing but healthfood foods in the house, you wouldn't eat them? Even if there wasn't anything else? It is not your children's responsibility to resist your pleas to bring home junk food - I cannot lay the blame at their feet. Throughout my life I have often wished I could be locked in a room for a year or so where the exact amount/quality of food I needed to be my perfect weight was slid under the door - nothing more, nothing less. That I didn't even get to see or interact with people - the sole purpose was to have my diet managed for me. It sounds like you might benefit from that kind of fantasy situation. Unfortunately, I am unaware of any place like that (I still wish there was one for me!). I have only myself to rely on for my choices. When I choose well my life swings towards health - when I don't, my life swings towards sickness. Sometimes I'm healthy, sometimes I'm not. But I try and make it easier on myself by limiting what I have available at home, so that my choices are a little easier, at least in that one place in my life. Hoping you can make a place in your life where making more nutritious choices is a little easier, and that once you make that place, that it grows throughout your life until you come out on the other side a more healthy, nourished soul - inside and out. ((hugs))

Does that mean your nose will be brown, too?

Thanks Ms Smooch... It is awful to put in writing the fact that I'm climbing back up the scale, particularly after everything I've learned. I'd have to say that my biggest faults are failure to exercise, overly generous portions, and the occasional sweet/carb attacks. As far as what causes erosion, no one knows for sure. There are certain things that increase the risk (they think), but I don't know that anyone can say for sure in most cases what the true cause was. All implanted devices carry the risk of surrounding tissue erosion, however - this is not unique to the band itself. Here's an old thread with some more info: http://lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=2725&highlight=erosion

RED !!!! RED !!! RED !!!! Uh, what was the question again?

He needs to contact his doctor ASAP, and let him/her know that the phenergen isn't working. Now is the critical time to keep the stomach as still as possible. Does he have the suppository type of phenergen, or the oral tablet? A week after my surgery I felt extremely nauseous for two days, but never actually threw up or had dry heaves, thank goodness. I can only imagine how much pain this must be causing him. Call his doctor right away!

Penni, I was just coming here to post something similar. While I have been enjoying the devious suggestions and creative ways people have thought of to snuff out Erin the Evil, I took them as I believe they were intended - in jest, and as a way to support a dear friend. However, at the same time I feel for Erin, and have a hard time with some of the degrading comments about her obesity. I know in my heart it's something similar to "if you're in the club you can make fun of people in the club, but if you're not in the club, it's NOT okay to make fun". From what I understand, she has been totally ignoring Lisa's valid requests to not bring food into Lisa's office, and to not offer Lisa food. There are obviously some deep rooted problems on Erin's side. However, we cannot control other people, we can only control ourselves. The world and people like Erin are NOT out to get us - they are just being themselves, as maddening as it can be. It is up to us to find ways to not succumb. The world will NEVER be a friendly place for people trying to throw off the chains of obesity, so we need to find the skills and tools to deal with these types of challenges, because they are ALWAYS going to be coming up. I wish Erin would hear Lisa and accommodate her requests. But since she can't, or won't, I hope Lisa is able to develop some tools that make her not only Erin-proof, but world of temptation-proof. xxoo

Nykee, can you not see that YOU are doing this to yourself by insisting on being too tight? You will do ANYTHING to succeed except be reasonable about the process and make it possible for yourself to be a success. You are NOT supposed to "never be hungry" - you are SUPPOSED to get hungry, eat a reasonable amount of healthy food WITHOUT PAIN OR FEAR, feel satisfied and stop eating. Until you get hungry again. Eating at 3PM would not suck if you were not TOO TIGHT. You would not need to subsist on soups, juice and milk if you were not TOO TIGHT. I don't care if you don't mind or not - that isn't the point. YOU are insisting on doing this the hard way. You are NOT getting the results you want because of it. Have you ever heard the saying, "Keep doing what you've always done, and you will keep getting what you've always gotten."? YOU are sabotaging yourself, and pretending that you are not. WE DO NOT HAVE TO DO DRASTIC THINGS TO GET RESULTS. Drastic measures are rarely effective in the long term, because they simply are not maintainable. And in case you didn't hear it earlier, YOU ARE SABOTAGING YOURSELF. Get a slight unfill and allow yourself to succeed. But unfill or not, NO ONE can lose weight subsisting on nothing but juice, milk, cheetos, Cookies, and the broth from various soups. You will NEVER be tight enough to be successful with those food choices comprising 95-99% of your menu. I am not condemning your choices - I'm just telling you the reality. I wish I could wave a magic wand and heal your hurts - your life has been a living hell, and I am in awe of how you keep going. Don't keep making your life hard because that's what you're used to. Please? xxoo

I'll bet they're drink markers - perch them on the rim of your glass so you can tell which glass is yours. For wine glasses the markers are made to go around the stem of the wine glass, but tumblers don't have a stem... Do they seem like they'd perch on the rim of a glass? Nothing worse than someone else drinking out of your highball glass when you're in the middle of a round of strip poker... Of course, that's just what I hear... lol

Hi Nykee - All the advice given here is right on. I second the following points: 1. You are TOO tight. 2. You must be loose enough to eat REAL food - Proteins and veggies. 3. Bigger meals in the afternoon to help cut cravings at night. 4. Hot liquids in the morning to help loosen you. 5. More Water. Can I reiterate - YOU ARE TOO TIGHT. But, to help even out your restriction. 1. You are consuming waaaay too much sodium and not enough water. Of course you are going to have edema first thing in the mornings, which will make your band feel even tighter. Soups and cheetos are full of salt. Cheetos chew down to mush, and soup is a liquid (particularly if you're spitting out the meat and veggies), and does not help you stay satisfied. If you choose to eat this way, then you MUST make up for all that sodium by drinking tons of water to help your kidneys flush out that salt. Otherwise you will swell up like a balloon and your band will be too tight. 2. Do you have any kind of allergies or post nasal drip? Do you wake up congested in the mornings? That will make you tight as well. You need to keep your mucus as thin as possible, which of course is best done by staying hydrated. If you have some sort of allergies or tend to wake up congested perhaps you should try a decongestant before going to bed. Mucus draining into your pouch all night will also make you feel tight in the mornings. Here is an interesting article on edema, causes, and possible solutions: http://www.diagnose-me.com/cond/C576850.html I found these points interesting: "Low Protein levels in the blood that can be seen in malnutrition, kidney and liver disease. The proteins in the blood help hold salt and water inside the blood vessels so Fluid does not leak out into the tissues. If albumin (the most abundant blood protein) gets too low, edema occurs especially in the feet, ankles and lower legs." "It may take from 2 to 6 weeks following long term dehydration for your body to get used to being normally hydrated again and flush out the extra fluid it has been retaining." "Semi-starvation can cause edema. People with eating disorders may interpret the puffiness of edema or any changes on the scale as weight gain or getting "fat" and may panic and purge or take laxatives even more." You need some protein, less salt, and lots more water, IMHO. You also need a slight unfill. IMHO. Wishing you all the best - xxoo